


Oh, What a Carnival

by madamedicelia



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Headcanon, M/M, idek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-09 05:14:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1970310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamedicelia/pseuds/madamedicelia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Nordics household has decided to spend the night at the local carnival but each has their own unique experience.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oh, What a Carnival

“Oh, so close!” the booth manager cried with a smile. Or a smirk more like.

Mathias groaned and pulled his wallet. “One more try,” he said determinedly while forking over another five bucks.

The worker smiled and reset the game. The game consisted of six metal cans stacked in a pyramid and one had three balls to throw to knock them all down. The only trick was that the cans were weighted so the soft balls couldn’t tip them. Even though this was a commonly known scam, the big-haired man had tried to win for at least four rounds.

The Nordics had decided to spend that evening at the local carnival. It was a nice summer night, the weather warm without being overbearing and a slight breeze jostling the trees. The smell of fried foods and farm animals wafted through the lit-up game booths and shaky roller coasters. It had rained a couple of days ago so the dirt ground was dotted with puddles of mud and still water that children liked to hop in. 

People strolled past snacking on fair food and laughing at inside jokes. Some held the hands of curious children, others the hand of their lover. They all brushed past each other, lost in their own pleasures and troubles.

“Mathias, you’re not going to win. Just give up,” Lukas sighed, leaning against the booth wall with his arms crossed.

“Yes, I will; you’ll see,” Mathias said. He sized up the pyramid for the hundredth time and threw the ball. Three cans hit the floor with dull thunks much to the surprise of the manager. Mathias looked over at Lukas and winked, earning him an eye roll. 

Mathias lobbed the second ball at an angle, hoping that tipping the middle can would cause another to tumble in addition to the other he hit. Two more cans dropped while the third wobbled on its edge. Mathias took advantage of its instability and hit it at just the right time to throw off its center of balance. 

“Yes! Told ya Lukas!” Mathias shouted, throwing his hands in the air in victory.

“Uh, well, congrats,” the manager mumbled looking confused and vaguely shocked. “Choose a prize.” He gestured the top row of stuffed animals. 

“Which one do ya want, Nor?” Mathias beamed at his date-who-wasn’t-really-his-date-but-kind-of-was. 

Lukas quirked an eyebrow and pointed to the largest stuffed animal available. “That one.”

The manager struggled to get the human-sized rainbow fish down from the racks. He was unused to actually handing out large prizes. The sparkly fins smacked him in the face as he tried to hook it. 

“Here, take it,” he grunted. It may have been just a stuffed animal but, man, it was heavy.

Mathias took it without great effort and presented it to Lukas.

“What do you think?” Mathias asked, proud of his accomplishment. 

Lukas felt the soft plush and smooth, shiny scales and flicked one of the googly eyes. He looked at Mathias, who was barely peeking out from behind the giant fish and whose grin was turning a bit worried.

“It’s cute,” Lukas said with a ghost of a smile. “Have fun carrying it around all night.” 

A brief look of panic flitted across Mathias’ face before his normal happy expression settled back. “That’s alright. It’s no problem,” he announced hefting the giant toy higher on his hip. 

“Oh, hi guys!” a voice called.

They looked over to see that their friends had arrived, and with food. Tino was carrying a enormous fried dough caked with sugar that Berwald was tearing pieces from. Emil was gnawing on a sort of chocolate-covered triangle on a stick. Cheesecake maybe? If such a thing did exist.

“Hey, guys!” Mathias exclaimed from behind his prize. “Didja find anything good to eat?”

“Emil found a stand that only sells deep fried food,” Tino suggested.

Emil held up a paper plate with cookie-sized fried lumps drizzled with chocolate syrup and topped with melting whipped cream. “Deep-fried Oreos. Basically diabetes in bowl but they taste amazing.”

“I want to try!” Mathias exclaimed. He started shifting the stuffed fish and asked, “So, uhm, Lukas, can you-”

“No,” Lukas quickly cut Mathias off. 

“Oh,” Mathias said sheepishly, shuffling his feet. “Maybe you could feed one to me?”

Lukas sighed quietly and took one of the cookies. 

“Thanks, Nor!” Mathias said excitedly as Lukas brought the confection close to his mouth.

At the last second, Lukas swiped the cookie away and ate it, leaving Mathias open-mouthed. He groaned as his “friend” swallowed the sweet contently. 

All the meanwhile, Tino and Berwald had been dealing with all the powdered sugar that had fallen on their clothes and Emil’s treat on a stick had melted, causing him great distress. He wandered away in search of napkins, precariously balancing his dissolving delicacy. Just as it was about to slide off, he shoved the whole thing in his mouth. Not like he had anyone to impress here. 

“Cute.” 

Emil choked. Then coughed and managed to somewhat compose himself. The stranger chuckled and handed him a napkin. Emil grudgingly accepted it with a mumbled thanks and tried to make himself presentable. 

“Chocolate covered cheesecake, huh? Really good but, like, so messy,” the stranger said. He had longish brown hair that he had clearly spent a lot of time on and amber eyes. 

“Yeah, I guess,” Emil shrugged, uncomfortable to be talking to this stranger after his little episode. 

The man checked his phone and announced, “My break’s over so I have to head back but, like, come visit me at my booth. It’s the ring toss.” He winked and walked away, leaving Emil in a daze of confusion. 

He drifted back to where he had left the other Nordics but found no one except the carnie tricking more people with his scam. Abandoned, he decided to wander the carnival. An old woman was selling homemade fudge at a small booth so he bought a few squares. As he meandered, he nibbled on the soft chocolate. He passed a pig race, the crowd cheering louder than the piglets squeal as they ran. 

Across from that was a flower show. Carefully cultivated blossoms were artfully arranged in displays or vases. Some sat alone in a dark bottle, all focus drawn to the perfectly colored and shaped petals. The larger gardens had shallow ponds and miniature waterfalls. Emil was particularly impressed by a miniature fairy village someone had built using solely twigs and leafs and adorned with pebbles. He suspected Lukas’s love of the mythological had tainted his opinion. 

Eventually, Emil roamed to the part of the fair that was full of games and makeshift rides. He spotted Mathias attempting to win Lukas another prize but didn’t want to third-wheel, especially with those two. Emil also saw Berwald standing vaguely uncomfortably and fidgeting with his hands next to Tino as they watched the Ferris wheel spin around. He could try to play a game but most required some skill or strength. 

“So you couldn’t stay away?” a vaguely familiar voice said.

Emil flinched and spun around to meet the voice. “Oh. It’s you.”

“Just me,” he repeated with a slightly raised thick eyebrow.

“I was wandering and you found me,” Emil tried to explain. 

“Well, your hair is kind of, like, hard to miss,” he said, flicking the ends of Emil’s locks, causing him to slap the offending hand away. “Is it natural?”

“What concern of that is yours?” Emil retorted. 

“It’s cute,” the man said bluntly. 

Emil flushed and looked away. “That isn’t something you should just say. Besides, I don’t even know your name.”

“It’s Leon,” he replied. The corner of his mouth twitched as if he were going to smile but held it back. 

“Emil,” the pale-haired boy said.

“That’s different. Like all the rest of you,” Leon noted. 

Emil squirmed knowing that this guy was looking at him so closely. “So what about it?”

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing,” he answered, leaning on his elbows over the counter.

“Is this what you do to get people to play at your booth?” Emil scoffed, hoping his hair would hide his pink cheeks. 

“That depends; did it work?” he asked.

“Hmm, no,” Emil countered.

“Even my dashing good looks weren’t enough to reel you in?” At this point, Emil wasn’t sure if he was joking or just incredibly arrogant. 

In response to Emil’s snort of disdain, Leon offered a free game. “It’s on me,” he said, handing him five rings. “Just try it.”

Emil sighed internally and picked up one of the rings. He aimed and threw it. It flew straight into the middle of the milk bottles, missing them entirely. He tried again, aiming for one of the bottles on the edge but the ring fell short and landed on the floor. Three more rings, three more misses. 

“You tried,” Leon says, with a shrug of consolation. 

Emil huffed as his face reddened with embarrassment and annoyance. He wanted to try again but knew it would be no good. He’d have to try fifty, sixty times until he won but he didn’t want to waste any more time.

Leon, amused by this fiery stranger, leaned on the counter and said, “Ya know what? You get a prize anyways.”

He reached up and pulled down a puffin plush toy, complete with bow and a tuxedo-like coloring. He messed with the hook that was holding it to the ceiling rack for a second before finally removing the plastic hanger. He tossed it to Emil who caught it with a confused and suspicious expression. 

“Why?” Emil asked. He thought it dodgy but the toy was also very cute and, hey, free prizes, who doesn’t like them?

“For being so beautiful,” Leon said plainly. Or perhaps there was some sarcasm? With the way he spoke it was difficult to tell apart the emotions in his intonations. 

Emil huffed and stammered. He was at a loss for words. The familiar mix of embarrassment and annoyance caused another blush to creep up. At times like these, Emil wished he wasn’t so pale. He muttered a phrase of gratitude before scurrying away from Leon and the embarrassment he caused. At least Emil wouldn’t have to see that guy again. He darted around the corner so he’d be out of eyesight and started wandering again, this time avoiding the direction go Leon’s booth. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he nearly ran into someone. 

“Sorry,” Emil stuttered. “Oh! It’s you, Tino.”

“Hi there, Emil! We were wondering where you went,” the Finn chimed, turning around. Sweden gave a grunt of agreement and ran his hand through his hair nervously as if he were going to do something but changed his mind at the last second. 

“Just to find a napkin,” Emil responded. He was holding the puffin by the wing at his side and he hoped that they wouldn’t notice. 

“Then where’d ya get the penguin?” a familiar and slightly obnoxious voice said.

Emil sighed. “Hi Mathias. And it’s a puffin. And where did you get all of those?” he asked, looking at the collection of stuffed animals Mathias was holding precariously. 

“Games. I wanted to show Lukas that I could win them,” he beamed. Lukas looked vaguely amused.

Emil scoffed, “You probably blew all your money on those rigged games.”

“And how much did it take to win this?” Lukas inquired, examining the puffin. 

“Nothing,” Emil shrugged.

Lukas pulled off what looked like the tag and remarked, “I didn’t know this was your version of nothing.”

Mathias looked over Lukas’ shoulder and the paper and added, “I never took you for the flirting sort, Emil!”

“W-what?” Emil stuttered. He snatched the paper from his brother and read it. 

You should, like, totally call me and maybe I can teach you how to win a game  
-Leon xxx-xxx-xxxx

Emil blushed red with annoyance. “I-uh-no-it’s not,” he stammered. How was he going to explain this? 

Lukas put his hands up and said, “Your preference is none of my business.”

“But-” Emil tried to clarify but gave up with a heavy sigh. They were going to tease him either way so what did it matter what he said?

Tino smiled gently and said, “I just hope they were nice.” He then turned to Berwald and said, “The line for the Ferris wheel finally went down. Let’s go!” He grabbed the Swede’s hand and dragged him away with a laugh. Berwald looked embarrassed but his eyes showed that he was glad. 

“Finally,” Lukas scoffed, crossing his arms around a little green troll Mathias had won for him.

“Berwald had been trying to build up the courage to hold Tino’s hand all night,” Mathias explained. “I don’t think Tino really noticed but at least they finally held hands.”

Forever snarky, Emil taunted the remaining two. “So which one of you two is building up the courage?”

Lukas maintained his poker face but Mathias laughed uncomfortably. 

“Both of you then?” Emil continued, enjoying having the underhand for once. He knew it’d turn on him tenfold later but he choose to relish this rare instance while he could.

While Emil smirked at his supposed victory, the corner of Lukas’ mouth twitched as he thought of how he would one-up hi brother. Determined and not one to lose a battle, Lukas leaned over the over-sized stuff animals prizes and kissed Mathias, much to his shock. 

Mathias, confused yet love-struck, remarked dazedly, “I didn’t know you felt like that, Lukas.”

“I think you’re the Tino of us,” Lukas mumbled under his breath while shaking his head slowly. 

Emil looked away and pressed his lips together tightly. Leave it to his brother to come with such a solution and rip down Emil’s satisfaction of being snappy while getting what he wanted. 

“But at least you won’t be the only single one now, Emil,” Lukas commented purposefully nonchalantly.

“Brother, no.”

**Author's Note:**

> "That's exactly how I play those ring toss games. Like, bitch I throw it in your face." -Sealand 2014
> 
>  
> 
> ^My friend's comment on reading that scene.


End file.
